Not a Big Fan of Dragons
by RonnieDoll
Summary: A year later, word of Hiccup's triumphant end to the dragon war has reached other colonies. But some vikings really are stubborn old beasts - maybe even too stubborn to accept dragons as friends. terrible at summaries - please read & review! STATUS: Indefinite HIATUS
1. this is berk?

[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Time to try this again. I never finish these things, but I like to write them anyway. Maybe get some feed back. Maybe keep going, for once. So please, r&r :)

Thanks!

------ ( 01 ) this is berk? ------

Cold waters attacked the side of the ship, occasionally spraying up high enough to douse the passengers with a mist so delicate it was almost impossible to fathom that it came from the ferocious sea. Equally vicious winds slapped everyone on board – there was nowhere to hide from the elements on a Viking ship – and anyone caught trying to do so would forever be ridiculed as not a Viking at all. Vikings were devils sent to tame the earth – all parts of it. The rock, and the sea, and the sky. Yet, they were having a little trouble with that last part.

Word had travelled of Hiccup, a boy from the Viking island of Berk, who had ended their war between human and beast. None of the stories really detailed how, exactly, he had eradicated the dragon population. That was the only way to stop them, anyhow. And the only way to find out the truth was to stick a couple of Vikings on a boat and ship them off to the island settlement.

The Viking ship was small but sturdy, like the medicine woman who stood at the right side of the boat and watched the sea with a knowing gaze. To her right stood a massive specimen with bulging muscles and a wide stance, though a cocky and youthful grin sat where knowledge ought to on his face. Behind the wheel there was a navigator of the seas, a Viking who smelled permanently of sea salt and whose eyebrows were rather noticeable. Off to his side was a small girl, whose blonde hair was dark and washed with red and held together behind one ear. Her height was nothing to be proud of but her spine was straight with pride, brown eyes flecked with green and gold and always steady. She was armored similarly like the boy on the other side of the boat, and had the same amount of experience.

But at the helm of the ship stood the greatest: their leader. The horns on his helmet were spiral and thick, bloodstains hidden within the ridges of the bone. The fur of his vest was massive and rough, from the wildest boars and bears caught by his own hand. The metal of his armor was scarred and scratched yet it glittered with experience. He was rather young for the leader of a tribe of Vikings, yet his face was weathered by hardships and his voice betrayed his youth through a raspy growl.

"I can almost smell them…" His statement was curious, almost like it was something that ought not be there.

"Who exactly are you smellin', Klint? The dragons or the people of Berk?"

Immediately all eyes and giggles were directed toward the girl by herself. A small smirk had cracked her stone-cold façade and she looked over her shoulder to her leader.

The dark-haired man up front turned to face the younger warrior and shook his head. "I really appreciate your attempt at a joke now, Thyre, but I must remind you to be respectful. Hopefully, we'll be meeting a legend today."

The large boy standing beside the medicine woman turned to watch the face-off glare between leader and brat, but decided his comment was better off directed somewhere where he wouldn't get the butt end of their bad attitude. He bit down on his lip and then glanced sideways.

"Hey, Marni, who do you think is gonna be taller? Me, or Hiccup?" he whispered so as to not attract an unwanted and snarky response from Thyre.

"It's gonna be you, kid," came a gruff answer from the wheel of the ship when Marni didn't take her watchful eyes off the sea.

"Yeah, I thought so, Bushbrow," Bear laughed. Beside him, Marni leaned over and edged closer to the front of the ship.

They had made it through the cloud of mist surrounding Berk and were fast approaching its port. But there was something strange besides buildings reaching into the sky over Berk. The recognition appeared in Klint's eyes only a moment before everyone else's. A collection of forms buzzing in the sky, long tails, sharp spines, massive wings…

"Dragons!"

Then ensued the chaos. Thyre raced to the opposite end of the ship where she tossed Bear his studded hammer and yanked her axe off the wooden board where it was held. With a battle cry she yielded it over her head and as the dragon swept lower, she swung. Somewhere amidst the dragon's cry sounded like a human yell as it dove to the side and sped away from the boat. Bear inched closer to her side, snorting.

"Some war they ended. There's dragons everywhere!" He spat.

Thyre narrowed her eyes. She no longer felt the rush of fear in her heart when she fought a dragon, but up in the sky there flew a great number of different species, circling around the boat. Yet none of them came too close.

The ship slowed to a stop at the port. People began to gather as they realized they had company. Thyre swung her head, quickly meeting Bear's dark eyes with her hazel gaze. "I don't think they're attacking us yet. We have to jump on this opportunity to take them while they regroup." Her eyes flickered over to Klint to see what he thought but the moment she turned her head, there came a sound howling through the wind. A high-pitched screech like no other.

The cry rang from every member of the boat: "Night Fury!"

Bear, Marni and Bushbrow flinched, but Klint and Thyre stood tall and watched as the offspring of lightning and death itself raced toward the ship, spread its massive winds and-- came to an abrupt halt.

A second of motionless silence was enough for Thyre to see she needed to take the lead. With a war cry twice her size she sped forward, swinging her axe behind her shoulder blades and narrowing her eyes on her newest victim.

She had taken no more than two steps when in front of her dropped a lanky boy with a scowl who held out his hands and waved them directly in her face, shouting: "Woah, woah, hey now. None of this, with the axe-wielding. Not allowed here."

Thyre slammed her feet into the ground to stop herself and met his green eyes for only a second before she wrinkled her nose and pushed him out of the way, staring at the dragon. To her surprise he stared back, and eventually lowered himself to the boat. Could anything else be more off with this situation? Klint wasn't even reacting – she couldn't hear a noise behind her at all to prove that he was. No one else on the ship panicked. More dragons approached now, and Thyre finally realized every single one of them had a human on their back. She spun around to find Klint – he would know what to make of this situation – but he and Marni were gone and she was met only with Bear and Bushbrow, slack-jawed with awe.

Spinning back around, she squinted at the brown-haired boy before her. His hopeful and friendly smile disgusted her for whatever reason.

"And who the hell are you, runt?" Thyre spat.

Instantly his smile disappeared. He looked at her with a tired expression and said sarcastically, "Hiccup. Nice to meet you."

She couldn't help but laugh for a second. "No," Thyre started with a giggle, but stopped when she realized no one else was laughing with her. This talking fishbone couldn't possibly be Berk's savior. He wore some strange kind of clothing – made only of leather and it looked almost like a harness. Where was his armor, then, if he was some kind of dragon killing warrior? Her eyes trailed downward as she continued to scrutinize and she felt a drop in her stomach. He had lost his left foot. It was a scary but honorable thing to lose something in battle. Could this really be Hiccup?

"Drop your weapon, Thyre. It's different than what we expected, but does it really warrant that expression?"

There appeared Klint at the dock, walking beside a strong man who was even bigger than Bear. The rugged fur he wore on his back told her his status and she nodded her head respectfully before turning a glare on her own leader. She said nothing, only tensed her hand around her axe further and pretended she didn't feel the eyes of an entire Viking tribe on her face. She met Klint's eyes for a moment but when his watchful gaze didn't break in its serious cover, she looked away and settled on Hiccup. There came that hopeful smile again, and Thyre realized she couldn't look at that face either. Focusing on a ragged cliff in front of her face she listened to Klint yak on about how they ride dragons and this was a new and difficult method to solving the dragon issue but he was willing to give it a try. Her sigh was heavy enough to move her shoulders. Of course, Klint would go with such an insane idea. It wasn't until her name was spoken that she lifted her head again.

"Thyre, Bear, you will accompany Hiccup up to the heart of Berk. Enjoy the view – plenty of dragon species to goggle at. And try and control yourself, girl," instructed their leader. He went on to direct Bushbrow and Marni but Thyre had stopped listening and instead grit her teeth, stomping off the ship and on to the walk. The assembly of people which had gathered during their time parted because of her glare, Bear's size, or possibly just to let them through.

Klint's voice rang from the ship Thyre was quick to leave: "Don't forget I said _accompany_ Hiccup."

She huffed and stopped, not turning to see where the supposedly boy of legend was. She waited for him to walk past – somewhat slow on his lost foot but stronger than she would have expected – before following him up the wooden-plank path that wound up the cliffs. The Night Fury swooped through the sky and disappeared over the land. Thyre could only shudder to imagine she was on her way to willingly meet up with such a dragon.

The crowd slowly dispersed. Stoic let them fall out of earshot before turning to his partner in leadership.

"That's quite the sizeable prodigy you have. I remember there was a time I would have wanted a dragon hunter like that for myself. Does he ah, like to fight dragons?"

Klint raised his dark eyebrows. "Bear? He's fought them but he won't be stubborn on old tradition. You will have no problem with Bear. May not be the most agile creature nor the fastest learner, but he is creative and quick-minded in battle and he will listen to the authority. On the other hand, Thyre…"

Like a dog to its name, the girl off turned her cheek in their direction despite that she was now several meters above them on a winding path up. The very corner of her narrowed eye was visible but Stoic could not help but focus on the deep and pink scar laying over it.

"Not a big fan of dragons," finished Klint with a grimace.

Both leaders turned to watch Hiccup, Bear and Thyre disappear from their sight and couldn't help but sigh.

--------

**please r&r!**


	2. astrid

[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Wow! That's a lot of story alerts. Thanks so much you guys! Sorry this chapter is kind of blah, but I did not imagine Thyre and Astrid to meet in any particularly exciting way. Please read and review :)

Thanks!

------ ( 02 ) astrid ------

For years it had been Gobber's expressionate voice bidding newcomers entry to the kill ring. This year started out with a new voice, one particularly young and somewhat wheedly, yet full of excitement and enthusiasm that couldn't be faked.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!"

It was practically glowing on his face. Thyre could see that even from outside the chains forming the dome over the stone training ground where she stood in the silent company of Bear. She leaned against the cold metal without fear, hazel eyes shrouded with a barrier to hide her thoughts from the world as she surveyed Hiccup and his class of teens barely a few years younger than her. She became so engrossed in his world but couldn't fathom it being her own. It made no sense, what was going on down there. That Night Fury she'd met the night earlier seemed to like her about as much as she liked him – which didn't say much of anything at all. Hiccup assured her he was just stubborn, but Thyre showed him what stubborn really was and marched into the woods where she spent the night. How she was cajoled into going there that morning she still didn't understand. Yet, there she stood.

In a way she was fascinated by him. Hiccup stood with an unwavering confidence, one with which she liked to imagine herself having. There seemed to be an air of hope around him and the people of Berk honestly believed in him. That battle that he won must have been beyond impressive to change the stubborn old ways of a Viking.

She knew they had honestly been changed, too. When she glanced over her shoulder to watch Klint and Stoic talk, occasionally she would see the latter's eyes wander down to the dragon trainer and swell with pride at the somewhat scrawny boy in the center. Thyre was so confused – how could he be okay with dragons still sniffing around their island, living under their very noses? They were wild creatures, feral and vicious things with a mass of muscles and teeth made especially for ripping the heart out of Vikings. Every little child was told the same thing during story time by the fire, before they became old enough to go into training. Her hazel stare remained intensely on the grand leader of Berk, searching for maybe even a speckle of reasoning as to why he went along with this plan. Before she could stare too long, the rumbling noise of Hiccup's dragon – it had some absurd name she couldn't really recall – brought her back to the training ring.

If it hadn't been for her attention to detail she wouldn't have noticed Bear's massive form leaving her side – probably to go talk to Stoic or Klint, god he was so interested in this dragon riding – and being replaced by someone considerably smaller, yet still a bit taller than she was herself. Thyre didn't turn but the slightest of her cheek her way when she settled in position beside her, both due to her rather rude nature and her overall curiosity in the ring.

"You an adamant dragon fighter?"

Almost begrudgingly, Thyre finally turned her head toward the girl beside her. Her hair was blonde and fixed back into a thick braid, though she kept a stylish fringe somewhat like Thyre's own. Her eyes were bright and determined but they held no judgment – yet.

Thyre grunted and nodded her head vaguely, eyes trailing over the orientation below before returning to her. She hadn't stopped looking at her since she got there. That blue-eyed girl certainly had a confident personality if she could fix her with a gaze that steady. She figured it was only right to dignify her with words. "I guess not anymore, seeing the way things are going." Oops, that came out more dismal than she meant it to. She fixed it with a crooked smile and added on, "I'm Thyre."

"Astrid," The blonde girl said, idly reaching one hand on to the chains and wrapping her thin fingers around one link. "I used to be really intent on killing dragons too, you know. But you should trust Hiccup."

Thyre turned her head to one side to silently roll her eyes in private. What, did Klint go out and hire some wannabe-warrior to talk sense in to her? The nodes in her voice made it seem like she was almost being honest, almost saying those things for her benefit and Thyre's, yet she couldn't trust the spike-skirted blondie so quickly. Suddenly feeling awkward, Thyre brushed a speck of nonexistent dirt off her left shoulder piece, and turned to face Astrid. Despite her smaller stature, she kept her spine rigid and her stare dead on the other girl's eyes, watching them fall into focus exactly where she thought they would go.

"I'm not too quick to trust dragons, or any friend of them," Thyre warned, her voice only half-hearted. She could feel Astrid's eyes examining the thick scar dragging from beneath her eyebrow, over her eye and reaching into her cheekbone. It was deep and ugly and just the right size for the swipe of a dragon claw. But Astrid surprised her with a simple shrug and a nonchalant stare.

"Looks like you were too reckless to me."

Thyre didn't turn red with embarrassment; it was the truth. How Astrid was able to pick it out so quickly, she didn't know. But perhaps this Viking wasn't so bad. Thyre's cold stare broke into a knowing smirk and she shook her head slowly. "You caught me," she admitted.

Astrid's gaze flickered over her shoulder shortly, toward the outskirts of town and out into the uninhabited forest beyond. Thyre needed no further invitation. With one parting glance down to Hiccup and his trainees, she pushed away from the chains and fell in to place beside Astrid and the two began their walk.

The sun was beginning to fade away into the clouds of night as Astrid and Thyre began to pick their way out of the woods and back toward civilization. Each wore a crooked smile and a content expression. Thyre had decided Astrid was not so bad – perhaps even likable, with a set jaw and a certain fire lurking within her blunt attitude. Astrid had decided the same fate of Thyre – though the girl was somewhat uptight, it just had to do with trust issues.

Luckily, Astrid knew that Hiccup could be a great help there. After all, he had fixed hers.

The pair finally emerged from the woods. The furs of their boots were stuck with burrs and there was stray dirt clinging to their armor from all the adventuring they'd done on their own. Secretly, Thyre had enjoyed it more than she'd shown. She'd felt what it was like to be a true Viking, and couldn't help but wonder if Astrid had felt it as well. When she looked over her shoulder to find an answer of the blonde's face, she was surprised to find her blue eyes upon her and quickly swung back around. She cleared her throat and asked after a pause, "So you seem to know Hiccup pretty well."

"Yeah," Astrid responded quickly and easily.

Thyre bit her lower lip and cast a worried gaze over her shoulder. "So you promise me there's nothing wonky with his head?"

Astrid laughed, "I'm not going to say there's nothing wonky with his head. But anything that's wonky definitely works."

"I'd say that's a little on the cruel side, Astrid,"

They'd been walking for so long that Thyre had forgotten to pay attention to her surroundings. Apparently they'd come close to the village far faster than she'd expected. And what luck was hers that Hiccup's home was right on the edge of town? Both she and Astrid surveyed the boy as he moved toward them – whatever expression Astrid wore Thyre wouldn't know, though she herself cloaked her good nature in an untrusting mask and said quickly, "Goodnight, Astrid!" and skipped a step to the side, turning her back on Hiccup.

"You're coming to training tomorrow," Astrid called after her in a tone that was less of a question and more of a forceful reminder. Thyre lifted one hand idly and continued on.

As she left them they spoke to each other in hushed tones. Out of curiosity, Thyre checked over her shoulder to see if they were doing that obvious thing that people did and stare at her if they were talking about her as she walked away. Instead, she saw Astrid lean in and peck Hiccup on the cheek.

Thyre only raised her eyebrows and straightened her shoulders as she turned away, mumbling, "Send your girlfriend to make a friend out of me, pphfft."

Hiccup and Astrid watched the small girl disappear over a hill and toward the Inn where they had decided to stay. Her back was so tense it almost appeared as though she were ready to explode, but after a day of observation Hiccup had decided she just always looked like that. The nonchalant expression on Astrid's face told him she had decided the exact same thing. Feeling his eyes on her cheek, Astrid turned to meet his gaze and raised her eyebrows rather expectantly.

Hiccup looked at the ground, ashamed for staring, and flickered his gaze between her face and his hands before finally looking her in the eye and questioning, "So…?"

Immediately Astrid knew what he was asking. She coughed something that could have been a laugh and shrugged. "Oh she's not bad. She's a lot like me."

Hiccup's face fell and he turned around, rolling his head back with an exasperated "hnnggghh". When the sun came up, he knew it would be a long day.

------

**please review! **


	3. first encounters

[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Thank you for all the reviews! I probably won't end up replying to all of them because I'm super absent minded and I often forget who I've responded to when I have the time to get online and check them and you know, excuses excuses. Don't take it personally though!

I will, however, address **al28894** and **PUNKROCKprincess4evr**. I really like to explore relationships with characters, which includes not only my OCs but also the canons. What will happen to Hiccup and Astrid is just another one of those things I get to noodle with based on the plotline I've thought out so far. Hopefully it won't disappoint, but you'll just have to read it and find out ;P

As usual, read and review! Please & thank you :)

PS, sorry this chapter is ridiculously long!

------ ( 03 ) first encounters ------

The morning sun glistened off her experience-tarnished armor, particularly reflective on the spikes of her Viking helmet as she marched forward bravely. Her spine was straight and she lifted her chin ever so slightly into the air, eyes narrowing with apprehension. She approached the dragon rink as she had for the past few days, but today she did not head up the sides to observe. Today, she was herded into the rink with Klint behind her and Bear at her side. Thyre sent one last pleading glance over her shoulder as she entered the dragon rink, but her leader had stopped at the gate and was much too busy discussing with Stoic, as he always was, to see her hateful glare. The door fell to the ground with a metallic slam and she turned back around in defeat.

Thyre hoisted the leather belt that fell diagonally over her shoulder and toward her waist; it lifted easier than it should have. Behind her the two straps that usually held her battle axe were empty – nothing like that allowed, according to Hiccup. She wore its emptiness as a grimace on her face. For a warrior, it was strange to be without weapon.

"Looks like I'm really here," she mumbled, hazel eyes leaping from focus to focus like she had ADD. If you'd asked her, she would say it was force of habit, really – Thyre needed to get to know her surroundings. But in honesty, she didn't want to look the pair standing in the center of the ring in the eye.

Bear and Thyre came to a halt about a yard away from Hiccup and his companion. Before the poor Berk native could open his mouth wider than a millimeter, Bear's face erupted with excitement.

"I decided I want a Nadder. Or a Zippleback! Or, maybe both, if that's in some way possible?" He tilted his head and grinned. Bear reminded her more of a big oafy dog than his actual namesake, and Thyre couldn't help but sigh as his enthusiasm caused Hiccup to smile. She dropped her gaze and lifted her hand toward her face, readjusting the hair by her scar and delicately touching the part of her face where a dragon had tried to carve out her eye. When she looked back up, she found herself looking directly into Hiccup's eyes before they both pulled a "whoops, not me" sort of move and coughed, looking off to the sky or behind them as though that's where they had meant to look all along.

Returning to focus, Hiccup laughed, "You don't get to meet your dragon just yet. Today, I want to introduce you to Toothless. I'm just going to ask that you leave the past behind and come close. He won't hurt you."

Bear approached the Night Fury with a single knot in his throat he quickly gulped away. As he came forward, his footsteps were slow and his posture was almost slouched, something that looked awkwardly funny on the massive guy, yet Thyre couldn't laugh. He was instructed by Hiccup to hold out his hand, but the rest of his instructions were lost to Thyre's ears as she tilted her head and watched the dragon. It held Bear's hand in its gaze warily for a couple of seconds, but gently butted it and hummed a content note. Vaguely she heard Bear's excited laughter as he rubbed the creature's nose, and her eyes flickered toward Hiccup's approving grin. Suddenly she was all too aware of what a massive creature the black dragon really was. Perhaps he wasn't the tallest dragon, but his body was strong and his wings were huge. Not to mention, they had incredible shot range and powerful fire. They were capable dragons, but Thyre had never faced one. It almost frightened her, to think she had no judgment of their stamina or strength or speed. Granted, she'd never seen a Zippleback or a Nadder, either. They didn't come to Ginn as Gronckles, Terrible Terrors and Monstrous Nightmares did. But they were easy to judge just by watching them move in the air. A Night Fury, on the other hand-

Thyre blinked out of her reverie to see, at some point, Bear had backed away and Hiccup lifted his chin toward her.

Every muscle in Thyre's body wanted her to turn around and look at Klint, praying that her leader would have realized what a ridiculous idea this was and would nod to her to come fetch her axe and start hacking dragons as she had been told to do so all her years since birth. But she was done showing weakness.

She set her jaw and placed one fur-coated boot in front of the other, inhaling and exhaling with each step. Her arms tensed as they searched for someplace to be, but without her axe they had nothing to rest on. Thyre wrinkled her nose at her own thoughts – what was this? Apprehension? Fear? Worry? Doubt? No. None of that was allowed in her mind.

Again she was aware of – what's his name? Toothless. She stopped in front of the dragon and met its massive green eyes and found his stare to be almost as cold as hers was. She raised her arms again and held her breath, completely at a loss for what to do.

"Relax," came Hiccup's advice somewhere to her side.

It took all of her energy not to bite back, "no, _you_ relax" and to legitimately breathe out.

She lifted her right, prepared to feel the beast's leathery skin beneath the palm of her battle-worn hand, but there was a tug in her muscles like she didn't want to do it.

Was that hesitation?

Hiccup inched forward, a careful watch on both the girl and his dragon. He placed one palm on Toothless' shoulder and felt the steady breathing of the Night Fury. He was fine – there seemed to only be a problem with Thyre. Somehow when Klint had told Hiccup she was a Viking in all terms of stubbornness, ferocity, and a distrust of dragons, he imagined getting past it would involve just a small push and then it'd all come easy. Yet the wavering look in her eyes told him there was a root to the problem she couldn't, or maybe even wouldn't, get over. His green eyes fell upon that ugly scar of hers and he pursed his lips.

Toothless wrinkled his nose, displaying the edges of his gums which could quickly become teeth. With a sigh, Hiccup put on the best smile he could and came in between Thyre and Toothless. "Maaaayybe another time," he drawled and nudged Toothless. The big dragon snorted at Hiccup and bounded away as though he had planned on it all along.

Relief flickered on her face for a moment so brief he wasn't even sure if he'd actually seen it. But as soon as she turned around, Hiccup spun and put himself directly in her path. Thyre stopped and waited with a dignified expression.

"Toothless can be as slow to trust as some humans are," Hiccup started somewhat hesitantly, as though expecting some sort of outburst to follow the next part. Still, he had to try again. "But Gronckles, on the other hand, are-"

Thyre cut him off: "Dimwitted?"

Hiccup's face fell from hopeful to exasperated and he lifted his hands in a message of plea as Thyre shifted on her feet again.

"Just trust me," Hiccup said, backing around her before turning toward one of the doors where they held dragons. No longer were the caves empty cells for fighting beasts. As Hiccup opened the doors, Thyre couldn't help but stare at the five-star remodeling that seemed to have happened for the dragons when their status went from enemy to pet.

The round dragon emerged from within, rumbling a yawn that was as thick and rough as its skin. Hiccup backed off as Bear followed suit. They stood within the entrance to the ring, leaving Thyre alone with the beast as it rose into the air.

She stared. What the hell was supposed to happen now? The buzz of its wings took over any other sound in her mind, eyes watching the rapid flapping and backing up slowly while her hands grasped for something to hold on to. "Not even a shield," she grumbled out loud. Was she completely defenseless out here with a dragon? Somehow it worked for Berk – this whole dropping the dragons as an enemy thing. Yet Thyre could not find a way to make the method work with her. It was so wrong. Just a few weeks ago if a Gronckle and her had been stuck in the same cage together, she would have sunk her axe into its chest and ripped its heart out, and it would do the same on to her with whatever it could. What made this Gronckle any different?

"Hiccup," warned Klint from the tunnel to the encirclement, watching that one expression begin to spread over his own student's face. Thyre would not show her fear the way most did – there were no wide-eyed stares or gaping-mouthed cries for her. But her face grew very cold, expressionless, and her fingers would twitch in anticipation while she maintained a forward stare.

But the brown-haired boy shrugged and looked on confidently. "What's the worst that could happen? We've got her axe."

The Gronckle fixed its wandering and excited stare on Thyre, who froze instantly.

"Ah, you don't really know Thyre," Klint started again. The chief had faith in his two prodigies, of course, but even from such a distance he could see Thyre's nerve slowly chipping away.

"He's not going to attack her. That Gronckle's pretty friendly. Once she realizes there's nothing to fear it'll be okay."

The Gronckle suddenly perked up and buzzed toward its company, wings beating even more rapidly. Her arm instinctively rose toward her back to grab her axe, a move which Hiccup watched casually, knowing there was nothing there.

He glanced over toward Klint and said, just to reassure, "I really don't think there's anything that could-"

Suddenly the Gronckle crossed an invisible line that marked the Viking girl's comfort zone. Thyre's eyes quickly narrowed and she ripped open a compartment on the inside of her belt, yanking out a sword almost the length of her torso and turning on the Gronckle. Realizing the threat, the dragon's eyes narrowed and it snarled viciously, his feral expression mirroring the one on Thyre's face.

"I was wondering why you didn't insist on taking her belt, but I guess no one told you-"

"There's a hidden sword. I should've seen that coming. Alright, Toothless, let's take care of this," Hiccup sighed, turning around. His black dragon was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh," he said at first, before his eyes grew wide and he threw his hands in the air. "Really? A time like this to go romp around the town? Excellent!" He whirled around and began to run toward Thyre, who wielded her sword and dodged around the snarling Gronckle. But it was difficult to gain speed with one leg. A year of practice wasn't enough for him to sprint forward and save the day, but he had to smother the feeling of defeat before Thyre or the dragon got hurt. He watched the sword swing behind her back with a horrific expression, and the Gronckle opened its jaws and reared back somewhat, the telltale sign of a bolt of fire just waiting to be shot.

Just then, something massive passed him and took Thyre clean out, a gargantuan of fur and leather and dark hair tackling the smaller girl to the ground as a burning crater appeared just where she had been standing before. Bear rolled off of Thyre, who groaned on the ground, and stood up, placing his hands in front of the Gronckle.

"It's okay, it's okay. She's not gonna do anything," Bear cooed, looking toward Hiccup for reassurance. Through his panting, he managed to smile and nod.

The Gronckle snorted and instantly subdued, dropping to the ground tiredly and staring up at Bear like a puppy who'd done wrong.

Thyre's jaw dropped as she rolled from her side on to her knees, staring at the creature.

"What in Thor's name is this?!" She shouted, throwing her hands into the air with fury. "Don't tell me this is _normal_. That beast got a craving for a little Viking blood and flew at me, but suddenly he's gonna listen to some giant oaf waving his hands and telling him everything is gonna be okay? Like it's some kind of child who dropped his sweets?" It was easy to see that tackle had knocked the wind out of her. Not even decently into her rant she began to cough, hazel eyes wide as she stared at the ground and muttered quietly, "I don't even- I, I just…" and gave up on herself.

Bear put a single hand on the tired Gronckle and stared at Thyre, who was busy picking herself off the ground. He looked on almost sadly, as though he were remembering what his friend was like before the incident. He knew she wouldn't meet his eyes, though, and she didn't, not once as she finally managed to get up with the help of the wall, or as she rubbed her side where she was sure she had a bruise, or even as she struggled not to limp when she marched past Hiccup, Stoic and Klint.

"Er, don't forget about tonight," Klint mumbled as she stalked past.

Thyre hissed through her clenched jaw, "Tonight? What is _tonight_?"

He sighed, knowing the reaction he would get would be nothing less than diva. "Marni is cooking dinner for our _gracious_ hosts and-"

He didn't need to tell her it was required to show up. Not that she gave them the chance. Thyre voiced that she knew both that she was expected to come and that she was not happy with it with a single grunt before she disappeared.

The awkward silence that would have followed was filled by a gust of air, which whistled pleasantly, before Hiccup cleared his throat.

"Well, that went well!"

* * *

Hiccup was often out into the evening with classes. Dragon training used to be once a day for a small group of fighting hopefuls. But now, many Vikings, adults included, enrolled in a course to learn to befriend dragons and how to ride one. Some of them just came around to spend time with their heroes, Toothless and Hiccup.

Whatever the reason was, it applied to why Hiccup would be late to dinner. The sooner Thyre finished eating, the sooner she could go and if she did it quickly, she might not even have to spend an awkward twenty minutes with the boy.

She sat sandwiched in between Stoic and Bear atop well-shorn logs which made decent seats, surrounding the fire where a pot hung over, the contents of which were almost ready to eat. Thyre drummed her fingernails along her kneecap, gaze intent on the iron pot.

Klint chuckled, "Hungry, are you? You look almost like Bear does when he feels his belly rumble."

Both Thyre and Bear lifted their heads, each looking at their chief before looking at each other and grinning. She lifted a palm and pressed it against Bears cheek to push him away from her before snorting, "Don't compare me to this thug. You know I am far more delicate and proper to be antsy for a meal."

Thyre sat up, straightening her spine and lifting one leg over her knee so she said cross-legged like a little lady, placing both hands on her knees one over the other and straightening her elbows. She put her chin slightly to the air and raised her eyebrows in a haughty expression. The very idea that she was prim and proper set the whole gathering into a hearty laughter, including Thyre. She calmed her smile until it was just a rise in her cheeks and surveyed the circled faces, all lit orange by the fire. Bear, Klint, Marni, Stoic…

"Where's Bushbrow?" Thyre questioned as his absence hit her.

"Ah, I don't know," Klint rumbled in response. "I told him a few days ago we would be here, but you know how he is. Always dedicated to that ship."

"Yes, he's probably down at the docks," Marni mused over the fire, stirring the contents of the pot with profound attention taken to the motion. "Being a man of the sea, and all."

"Or, you know, he could've gotten sick of the docks and went in to town. He's almost always off land," Bear suggested, raising an eyebrow as if to provoke thought.

"So what you're saying is he could be anywhere?" Thyre suggested, glancing around the circle.

A moment of pause passed before Klint shrugged and uttered, "Sounds about right," and the group shared a laugh again.

Their laughter was what greeted Hiccup as he pushed the door open, quietly enough to not be noticed, but the worn sound of his prosthetic gained the group's attention. A warm welcome ensued, complete with hearty smiles and many arm gestures as they welcomed Hiccup into the group and guided him toward an open spot between Stoic and where Marni would sit.

The woman hummed over the fire and gave it one more robust stir before announcing proudly, "It's ready."

Then came the moment where it was apparent that dragon slayers or not, the people gathered around the fire were Vikings. They held out in good manner for as long as it took to ladle a healthy serving of stew into a bowl that was big enough to be a Viking helmet. But once they were seated, the slurping and grumbling and overall raw, feral behavior began.

Thyre might have been the only one conscious of her actions as she ate. Perhaps it was her lack of armor – as a sign of respect, she'd taken off her chest piece and removed of her weapons, leaving her exposed to anyone who wanted to carve her heart out. She'd kept her helmet upon her head where it sat proudly. When she'd first entered, she recalled the suspicious glance Klint sent her, as though she were harboring a few more secret weapons than he knew of. That sword, she had to admit, made her feel somewhat shameful – Hiccup's instructions were no weapons of any kind in the ring. Yet, she didn't trust him and she didn't trust herself to act honorably if she had no means to fight. Thyre wasn't one of those giant manly men Vikings who could punch a dragon in the face. And as doubtlessly cool as it was to sock them in the teeth, it just wasn't possible for her.

But Thyre knew she didn't have any weapons on her. No hidden knives in her boots, even. They were uncomfortable. She'd given them a go early on in her Viking career and found them to be not her style.

Marni carried on her maternal duty as she felt was necessary, gathering the dirty dishes and carrying them away as the Vikings rubbed their bloated bellies and grunted before beginning conversation again. Bear engaged Klint and Stoic in some sort of conversation about the differences between Ginn and Berk, one to which Thyre only raised an eyebrow and gently denied herself entry from, despite Bear's constant glances toward her. She rubbed the sore spot on her arm from the earlier in the day and lifted herself to her feet.

She was almost to the door when she caught the first sound of Hiccup following suit. Too full to be a brat, she turned around and cast him a rather blank stare, one to which he wasn't really sure how to react.

"Uuh, I want to talk to you." He started.

Thyre narrowed her eyes, and as soon as his sentence finished a thought popped in to her head. "I want to fight you."

"What?" was Hiccup's initial reaction.

"I said fight me," Thyre said, her voice strong but simple. Hiccup stuttered through some syllables, all which sounded very negative, so she took a wide step forward and lifted her chin. "Fight me. Spar. Just you and me, though. No dragons."

"Here, at the dinner table?" Hiccup laughed. "I don't think my dad would really appreciate damage, seeing as I didn't end up being a small home repair Vik-"

She was beginning to tire of his excuses and rolled her eyes, huffing an almost childish sigh. "_Outside_," Thyre clarified, the unspoken 'as if you didn't know that' ablaze in her hazel eyes.

Hiccup lifted his shoulders in kind of a defensive manner, chuckling and shaking his head. "Now, I'm not really the _sparring_ kind of fella. That's Astrid – Astrid's the sparring kind of fella. You should go see Astrid – not me – if you want to fight. Which is to say, if I rephrase, you should go to _not_ me to fight someone, and to fight someone you should go to Astrid."

"I will," Thyre stopped him. "actually, go see Astrid tomorrow. Probably won't fight her, because I didn't ask to fight her. I said fight you."

Hiccup looked away nervously. Astrid had helped him out greatly over the past year, but he still couldn't imagine being very good at ground battle. He wasn't _helpless_, but having Toothless by his side always made things easier, and-

"OOF!"

A shield hit him square in the chest. He caught it with a stumble and glared over the top of it at Thyre as she gathered her own weaponry. For a moment he swore he saw her glance at his glare and smile, but before he could check to make sure that's what that facial expression was she had turned around and was hoisting her battle axe off of the ground and into her hands.

In her hands she held her chest piece, the leather strap which connected it behind gathered in one palm. Her gaze flickered between the worn metal and Hiccup's unarmored chest, and slowly she let it down. There would be no advantages here. When she hoisted her leather belt over her head, then, it felt strange and heavy upon her bare shoulders the same way it felt strange and heavy in her heart. It was hard to let to the warrior go.

Hiccup's question drew her attention away from her delicate placement of her armor on the floor: "What do you expect me to fight with?"

She lifted her head and fixed her posture, squinting and putting one hand on her hip. "What is that, a last-ditch effort to find an excuse? You have to have something."

Hiccup's mistake was in slightly lifting his hand toward his side – then Thyre knew that was where he kept his weapon.

"Use that knife of yours," she commented and smiled to herself when Hiccup looked surprised. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and motioned toward the door with her chin. He waited a few moments, and then exited. She turned behind him and herded on the off chance he wanted to escape, disappearing into the moonlight outside while the grown-ups had their time to chatter.

Thyre continued to herd him to the back of the home, toward the open hill before it became forests. Her footsteps slowed as she inhaled the cool night air, filling her lungs with the oxygen necessary to fight. Hiccup stopped about a yard and a half away from her, looking less than enthusiastic about this fight. Thyre had no desire to pummel him, as he might have expected based off his somewhat frightened expression. But there was a place in everyone's mind they could find understanding. For one Viking, it might be sitting on a cliff over the sea. For another, it might be lying in the grass looking up to the stars.

For Thyre, it was fighting.

Fighting, she could focus. Fighting, she could examine a person and determine their strengths and weakness'. Fighting, she could analyze the way they moved, they way they acted, they way they thought. And she needed that more than ever with this strange Viking boy who changed a village. Fighting Hiccup could be like meeting him for the first time, had they not already met. But she'd gathered almost nothing when he soared in with Toothless toward their humble ship.

"So, are we going to start this thing, or what?"

Thyre wasn't going to say she was the type of person to react to her buttons being pushed. And it was definitely not Hiccup who decided to start the fight with that comment. Indeed, it was purely coincidental that the moment he said that, her nose wrinkled and her teeth bared before she launched forward, swinging her axe with a battle cry. Hiccup matched her cry, but it was one of surprise rather than one of righteous fury. She brought her axe down at his feet – not meaning to grab his remaining one, but rather to test his reaction. But instead of turning on her with his knife, he would only dodge her attacks.

It was honorable of him to face her every time she swung her axe at him, but he made no moves himself. Thyre narrowed her eyes and swung again, this time aiming higher up as though she wanted to chop him in half. With a noise of fright he backed up, swinging his arms to maintain balance and then quickly rolled away from her axe as she brought it back down, this time toward his head.

She lowered her axe and tilted her head, carefully surveying his narrowed eyes and the way he leaned to one side, prepared to leap away the second she came at him again. But there had to be some way to provoke him to actually fight her.

Thyre took the end of her axe in one hand and watched Hiccup tense, but instead of leaping forward she spun it to the ground where one blade sliced into the grass next to her foot. Then she reached to the inside of her belt again, ripping from it the sword it hid within and flinging it toward Hiccup. He raised his arms to shield himself from the blow, but Thyre knew the blow wasn't coming. Her sword landed with a satisfying 'shnk' into the dirt. Now having her hands free, she lifted her axe back out of the ground and swung it over her shoulder, the handle resting in the notch between her bones.

"You're clearly not doing anything with that knife of yours. I want you to fight me, for real." Thyre's voice was as strong as ever until she saw the unwillingness in his eyes. Her tone softened. "Please."

Hiccup recognized the plea in her voice, no matter how much she tried to hide from there and from her eyes. He decided to humor her, and repocketed his knife while stepping forward to tug the sword from the ground. He held it steadily, proud of the muscle Astrid had helped him gain, before his eyes flashed toward his target.

A brief smirk appeared on Thyre's face as he rushed her. She brought her axe up just to block his swing, though immediately after she did Hiccup adjusted his aim slightly higher and she had to dance off to the side to avoid the hit.

They parried blows bit by bit, hardly moving from where they were but in constant motion anyway, back and forth and side to side. Thyre did the defending now, while her eyes searched his movements and his expression for the reasons why they were what they were. And what she found in every swing was somewhat surprising: trust, and more so, determination. Every attack was made in good faith – he trusted that she would block it, that he would not hurt her. And yet, every attack was strong – he was determined not to fight poorly just because he didn't want something to go wrong. It was admirable, if that's what it was.

Thyre's eyes flickered to his face where she could only find the same themes reprinted in every crease in his brow, and even in the depths of his eyes as she suddenly met hers.

In silence, she swung her axe toward him, catching the sword within the slit down her blade's center. It was there for decorative purposes, but it certainly worked as a net for swords as well. She pulled the axe toward herself, placing one calloused hand on the sword itself. Without words, Hiccup let it go. Replacing it within the inside of her belt, Thyre lifted the leather itself off of her body. A part of her neck where the leather had sat directly against her skin had been rubbed raw, bright red under the moonlight.

Hiccup only watched her moments, confused out of his mind. The girl in front of him was not only cold and insensitive, but she was almost entirely awkward and he had no idea how to react to the scarred girl. But Hiccup couldn't just leave her alone –Odin knows how badly they both wanted that to happen. If she couldn't stop killing dragons, he would have failed himself, failed Berk, failed Toothless.

He lifted his head to the sound of footsteps.

_Great_, thought Hiccup. _There she goes again, off to not cooperate and leave me standing here with no clue what to do with her._

But as she passed him she lent him a curious smile – one that was so stark and different on her usually stony exterior, yet it seemed to fit her features. Not only that, but she even bumped him in the side with her axe before heading past.

Thyre had gathered all she needed for the night. "Good fight," she remarked.

Hiccup stuttered a question as he turned around, but she disappeared from his vision rather quickly afterward. A low rumble started overhead, and he looked up to see a vaguely dragon-shaped patch of darkness block out the stars as it circled overhead. Tired, Hiccup dropped to his feet and waited for his friend to come join him on the ground, grateful to end the night with at least one person who made sense.

----

yeah, once again i apologize for how long this one was!

**please review 3**


	4. the screech

[authors note]

HTTYD does not belong to me as much as I want it to, etc etc.

Here comes another long one.

Thanks for detailing your reviews guys! Even if it's just a sentence like commenting on character development or something, it really means a lot to me.

As always I'd love for you to read and review, peas and spanks :)

------ ( 04 ) the screech ------

Thankfully, the day that she was instructed by Klint to "perhaps have a rest from this dragon business" turned out to be a gorgeous one. She woke up in the morning to a lavish sun rising into the sky, burning brightly, especially for the time of year. She'd rolled out of bed and gotten dressed with an almost happy cheer – until she realized she had nothing to do. Part of her considered taking the day off to be lazy, but to waste such sunny weather would be a downright sin, and she knew it. Once she pulled on and secured her boots, Thyre latched her axe to the back of her leather belt and stepped out into a cascade of shine.

The girl walked like a woman on a mission – that's how you had to walk through town, anyway. Vikings lived a harsh lifestyle and there was always _something _to do. So even if one had nothing to do, very much like her situation that morning, one still had to walk as though they were on their way to something important. In all honesty, she hadn't a clue where she was going until she was halfway there.

Thyre remembered the way to Astrid's home. Her mother and father were busy Vikings (as if there was some other kind of Viking) and therefore, usually not home. At least they weren't the three or four times she and Astrid lapped the town before taking to the woods the first time they'd met.

Thyre arrived at the home in a timely fashion. She didn't bother prepping in any way or form, not even a deep breath or a run through in her head about what she'd say concerning _why_ she picked then to randomly show up. Instead, she just lifted one calloused hand in a fist and brought it down towards the door – which chose at that exact moment to disappear.

"Waugh!" Astrid yelped in surprise to see Thyre standing directly in her path.

"Waugh!" Mirrored Thyre, for the exact same reason.

They both fell silent and glanced in opposite directions, eyes searching the towns people further back to see if anyone had noticed their blunder. Finding that no one had, or at least that no one was about to show that they had, both girls turned back. Astrid flashed an amused smile, while Thyre wore one slightly more embarrassed. The blonde girl stepped back, and gestured toward the open space in her house. She giggled as Thyre rushed past.

The moment the door clicked shut, the Ginn native released a breath big enough to have come from a dragon. "Well, that was embarrassing," she shuddered, turning toward Astrid.

Astrid strode through her home gracefully, turning her head toward Thyre as she moved past. "A little bit," she confirmed, but didn't stop until she reached the back door. Looking back and seeing her company hadn't moved, she raised her eyebrows and jutted her hip out, looking somewhat impatient. "You came here to talk about Hiccup, didn't you? And if not him, then it's about the dragons or something. He told me about Toothless, and about the Gronckle."

Thyre paused for a moment, almost trying to pick out the next syllable before she said it. But Astrid didn't mention their spar. Perhaps the couple hadn't spoken yet since last evening.

"I think you need a swift kick in the butt," Astrid finished strongly.

"I think you think everyone needs a swift kick in the butt," Thyre responded smoothly, not yet moving in case she honestly wanted to kick her a good one in the rear.

"I think you think the exact same way," the blonde retorted before shaking her head. "There's someone I want you to meet. She might be a better teacher for you than me or Hiccup."

Thyre sighed. Honestly, she was so tired of this dragon nonsense. Perhaps she ought to have used today to seek out Bushbrow and convince and slash or beat him into submission so that he would take her back to Ginn where she could slay dragons to her heart's content. Not that her heart could ever be content after seeing what Berk had done with itself. Astrid made a slight move toward her and she sighed, rolling her eyes to the sky as though there might be a deity out there who could help her. But even if a god did come down to save Thyre, her sorry butt would still end up beaten by Astrid. Defeated, she pushed her body up from its slouch and moved out into the glaring sunlight.

She was greeted with the sound of a chirpy kind of grunt. Shielding her eyes, Thyre squinted until she could make out the form of Astrid, headed over to a strange, bird-like dragon covered in scales of blue and accented with gold.

"I'm out," Thyre sighed, barely pivoting before Astrid could respond.

"Nope," the other girl said simply.

Thyre turned back around.

"Bear with me. I'm not the empathic kind of teacher that Hiccup is," Astrid briefed, before pulling the bangs away from her eyes. "This," she motioned to the dragon who stood by her side, "is Thisper. Thisper is a Nadder. I guess you don't have those over in Ginn. But she's a really nice dragon – who knows why she stuck with me and my thorny attitude, but she did."

Giving a sound that was more like a purr than any dragon noise, Thisper inched closer to Thyre, huffing large breaths of air as she sniffed around the girl for a scent. The dragon tilted its head and surveyed it with one eye at a time, shuffling its wings as it cawed an excited sound. Thyre leaned away, which prompted a cluck of disapproval from Astrid.

"Since you won't approach a dragon, let the dragon approach you."

Well, Thyre knew she was in a rut. She couldn't kick the dragon in the face and run away –she'd have hell to pay if she did that. So instead she stood, rooted to the ground, staring worriedly at the Nadder. Thisper must have seen the look in her eyes, because the dragon dropped its head and cooed a low, rumbling note, drawing closer with hesitation.

In a million years, she would have never imagined reaching out one hand to touch the head of a dragon with gentleness and no desire to kill. But Thyre was doing exactly that.

It was like her hand was moving without the will of her brain. She knew it was a bad idea. Reach something out to a dragon and you can consider it kibble. Yet she kept extending her arm, straightening her elbow until her fingers brushed against the softer scales of the Nadder's face. Instead of rearing back in alarm, or snarling in defense, the dragon only purred a note of acceptance. Thyre lay her hand flat against the creature's forehead, hazel eyes wide. She couldn't describe the feeling in her stomach but it was an interesting one. Was she nervous? Was she scared? Was she excited? Was she happy?

Thyre didn't know which one it was, exactly, but a small smile was forming on her face. She stroked the pattern of Thisper's scales for a moment before she changed her gaze to meet Astrid's knowing smile, at which point she retracted her hand and touched it as if to make sure it was still there. Her eyes trailed between Thisper and Astrid, a soft giggle coming from her throat.

At least, it did for only a moment, before she silenced herself and cast a steel-coated gaze on the sky over Astrid's shoulder.

"I don't see this happening in Ginn." She said suddenly, frowning. "Ginn dragons are not Berk dragons. I guess, I can do this with these dragons. Nadders, Gronckles, maybe even Monstrous Nightmares. But not Ginn dragons."

"What do you mean?" Astrid responded. She didn't seem shocked really, she just seemed… confused.

"I can't see myself on the back of one of those dragons," Thyre responded finally.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "You're difficult. But at least I made progress." Then she jammed one foot in the stirrup of her dragon's saddle and pulled herself on to Thisper's back. The Nadder barely even stirred – she seemed plenty content with the Viking on her back.

"I'm not going on a dragon ride, girl, if that's what you're thinking," Thyre responded, her eyes narrowed as she tensed slightly.

"Calm down, you're not coming." Astrid shrugged. "Alright, I'm off." She didn't have to look down to see Thyre's confusion. "Hiccup's not the only teacher."

"What?" the Viking still on the ground voiced her confusion.

"Yeah, some people started to ask me how to get along with Nadders and suddenly, they want me to do it in a fixed place at a fixed time." Astrid shrugged again, but she had a somewhat pleased and confident smile edging on to the corners of her lips. "Anyway, see ya."

With a roar, the Nadder took off and was out of eyesight within only a few seconds of its flight as it headed over the house and into the distance. Thyre watched for those moments, but then nearly fell over in a heart attack. She practically tripped on to her butt and landed into a gentle pile of grass, her Viking helmet flying off her head and landing on her chest. The field behind Astrid's house was open. The woods were somewhat further off, and for the time of day the sun was shining high in the sky directly above her hyperventilating form.

After placing her helmet beside her, she laid one hand over her heart, the same hand she'd placed over a dragon's skin just a minute earlier. Thyre caught her heaving breaths, and realized just how tired changing experiences made her, and just how warm the sun was, how cool the grass was, how comfortable she was in the field behind Astrid's house…

Just like always, she promised herself only a few seconds of rest from her busy day to rest her eyes.

Just like always, she fell fast asleep.

* * *

Astrid had changed Hiccup. Hiccup had changed Astrid. And he kind of liked it.

People always went on about staying true, never changing. Heck, whenever anyone broke up there was always the required yelling/crying match about how "you're not the person I fell in love with" or "I don't even know you anymore" and all related dramatic statements. But Hiccup kind of like the changes they had made to each other.

Now that Astrid wasn't focused on being the best, on winning in her dragon training class, in dangerous affairs, she had more time to think about what _else_ she wanted in life. She had time to spend with her family, and with her friends. Of course, there was her boyfriend too, but besides that. She was slightly more mellow. Not to say that she didn't have those moments where she was beyond brutally honest, or those times were her determination nearly took over her head. And Hiccup did get his fair share of punches still, whenever they were deserved. But in their relationship, her caring side had certainly blossomed. Sometimes it was obvious – she would come by to his classes and smile at him through the chains as he worked with the people of the towns. Other times, it was more subtle, like wiping down his dragon gear at night when he went to bed. Either way, Hiccup knew she cared. And he wanted to make sure she knew he cared, too.

Hiccup was finally confident that Astrid's "class" had a set time and place. He knew she would not be home for roughly two hours, just enough time for afternoon to turn to evening. Toothless was not in his plans, but he had gone right from a relaxing ride to Astrid's home, so he had no choice but to allow the Night Fury to follow him as he tip-toed towards the back of her home, so he could get in the back way and creep to her room. In his arms he held a gathering of wildflowers. He knew she liked them. They'd gone on a walk once and she'd spent a while looking at them and smelling them. They were assorted in color and kind of pretty by a boy's standards. Bees seemed to think them really pretty to. _That_ was a pleasant experience.

Toothless shook his head and growled, his footsteps growing slow.

"Are you kidding me?" Hiccup laughed, glancing over at his best friend. "Is your moral conscience really kicking in? I mean I know I'm breaking and entering, bud, but it's to put a flower on her night stand! There's got to be enough kindness in that gesture to cancel out the fact that I'm sneaking in to her house."

But Toothless still reared his head and snorted. He really didn't want to go, for some reason. A reason Hiccup discovered as he rounded the corner and saw Thyre pretty much sprawled and passed out in the center of Astrid's back yard. Toothless huffed and lifted his chin, sending a knowing glance toward Hiccup.

"Oh, that's what you're so mad about." Hiccup said with a shrug. "Well, it is weird." But weird things never bothered Hiccup before, and they wouldn't bother him now.

"Alright, let's go wake her up." Hiccup suggested.

Toothless bared his teeth with a hiss.

"Okay, I'll go wake her up."

Awkwardly, he wandered over to the sleeping girl, and stood in the sunset that fell on her face. His shadow seemed enough to disturb her. With a grunt, she pulled her arms in and settled her face on her hands, huffling in her sleep and wiggling to get more comfortable.

"Uh, you can wake up now, Thyre," he said. She shifted again, and he was thisclose to nudging her with his boot when she suddenly bolted and delivered a deserving smack to the offending boot.

But Thyre didn't get on to her own feet. She remained seated, blinking the groggy sleep away from her eyes and lifting her head toward the sky. When she came to understand where she was and what time of day it was, she simply raised her eyebrows and blinked once. Lifting one hand to lazily push the hair out of her eyes, she glanced past Hiccup toward Toothless and mumbled, "Oh. That's what that growling was."

Toothless settled on the ground and huffed again, turning a cold cheek to Thyre as she looked over. He made it clear he would not come any closer, so Hiccup sighed and slowly seated himself in the grass. He kept what he considered a respectable distance – at least a foot and a half away from the Viking girl –but she didn't seem to put up any protest that he was sitting beside her as it were. Instead, she plucked a small blade of grass and played around with it, like nervous busy work.

Hiccup looked at Thyre. He'd come to be able to recognize her – that rigid spine, her agitated stare, and her oddly colored hair, which was always pulled and fastened behind one ear and hidden on top by her spiked Viking helmet. She gave off an imposing façade. He'd known that from the start, that she tried to be intimidating by the way that she dressed. Or perhaps not so much frighten people than she wanted respect as a warrior – a dragon killer.

But when he looked at her that night, she seemed completely different. She sat in the grass with her elbows on her knees, slouching forward almost lazily. Her hazel eyes were focused on the blade of grass between her fingers, yet they held a tired quality within their depths. When she had gone to sleep earlier, she rested her helmet off to the side, and somewhere during the snooze the tie that held her hair had come undone and lay somewhere among the grass. Unshackled, her hair fell a little past her shoulders. It was mostly straight, but slightly disheveled courtesy of helmet hair, and there was a kink in it from where it was almost always tied. The only thing Hiccup could pinpoint about her that was similar was the deep wound over her eye.

At least, it was until she turned her head toward him and replaced her somber expression with a glare. "Quit it," she hissed.

"Sorry!" Hiccup responded immediately, turning away and looking up and away and anywhere but at Thyre.

Out of her reverie, Thyre pulled her legs beneath her and propped herself up on her fists.

Suddenly, she gave a frustrated huff and ripped the blade of grass in her hands in half and stared at the stars. "Damn Astrid," she growled. "Her dragon was actually nice. And I wasn't even scared! Damn Astrid. I guess if she could make that happen for me, I have to respect her." She raised one eyebrow and glanced at Hiccup from the corner of her eye to make sure she had his attention. "I guess I'm going to trust you, kid."

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but Thyre kept on going.

"When I came here, I didn't expect to see any dragons. I thought you killed them all. I thought that's how you won." Her voice grew soft and once more she looked away. "I just don't understand how to be _friends_ with them. I could see, maybe, it happening here. But… we have a couple of different species over in Ginn – and not one of them is nice or tame or docile."

The boy furrowed his brow, running his hands through his hair as he contemplated her finally voicing her doubts. Hiccup didn't know how to work fast enough for this. It was almost as if he was worried that if he didn't respond correctly, she'd suck herself back into that shell of hers and he'd never get anywhere. Finally he sighed. "You know how it works in a colony of bees?" Thyre cast him a 'what does that have anything to do with anything' sort of stare, but he continued. "That's what the dragons were. They had to take our food, or else they'd be punished. But we got rid of the queen bee. And then they changed."

Thyre said strongly, "You. You got rid of the queen bee."

"I guess so," Hiccup admitted, at least slightly taken aback by the credit he was given by Thyre. Most of the time it seemed she had a dragon horn lodged up her rear – to hear any form of praise made him stutter. "I mean, I had support."

Thyre snorted. "But you were the only one on that dragon." She glanced over her shoulder toward Toothless. He appeared to be sleeping, yet his breaths were not deep enough. He had to be awake, listening. Thyre smiled in amusement – an eavesdropping Night Fury, who would have known? But she had to get back on track. "You're the only one that suffered repercussions."

They both glanced at his missing left leg before Hiccup shrugged. "Yeah, well. We all get a little marked up by dragons."

Thyre glanced back up to find his eyes on that ugly scar of hers. If she could look at it too, she would, but instead she lifted her chin a little and breathed in deeply.

"Do you want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Are you expecting a sob story?"

"Yeah."

Thyre laughed, "Well here's some disappointment." She inhaled, about to start some tirade, but all of a sudden she hesitated. When she started again, her voice was small. "I was stupid. I was reckless. I joined a class with Bear, and you've seen him. I mean he's big and strong, the perfect Viking build, but he's also really clever on his feet." Thyre scratched the back of her head, like she was embarrassed to admit it. "I wanted to be the best. And for a while we were good friends and we fought together, but that's when they started to put pressure on us to be the best of our class and kill our first dragon… So it was me and Bear in the ring and suddenly this one Spindleneck got out of its cage – super angry, I suppose – and it started to attack, and they told us to leave but I wanted to prove I was stronger than that – so I rushed it." Thyre finally breathed. She really just wanted to get that story over with, but she couldn't find words fast enough. "It saw me coming, some little overconfident girl, and it nearly took off my head. I ducked, but it still hit me. And once it pinned me down I thought I was going to die, but Bear managed to drag me out from under its claws while Klint came in and took care of it."

Absentmindedly, she lifted one hand and trailed a finger over her scar like she was reliving the memory. Raising her head, she was somewhat surprised to find Hiccup's gaze intently on her. He was a good listener, she had to admit.

Thyre cleared her throat and continued, "I never felt more humiliated. So embarrassed. And they all saw, everyone saw. I hated dragons." Her face contorted as though she were in pain. And Thyre, in a way, really was. She didn't like to open up. But she always awoke from her dreams with some kind of thought buzzing in her head, and if she had the chance to get it out, Thyre would. And here that chance was. She took advantage of this opportunity. Hiccup didn't even really have to listen. Thor bless him, though, since he was.

"That was one mistake. Are you going to let it rule your life? You…"

Once more, she cut off Hiccup. "Are insecure. Yup. I know. Oh, and tell anyone we're having this conversation and I'll rip your liver out, fry it up and feed it to your dragon."

Despite her dry delivery, her voice still had that threatening edge in it. But Hiccup was feeling somewhat confident today.

"Toothless," he responded, in the same strong tone Thyre spoke with. And that, for some reason, seemed to make her look up.

"What, do you want me to call him by name?" she asked, looking back over to Toothless. He'd cracked an eye open at the sound of his name, but shut it as soon as he saw Thyre peeking.

Hiccup asserted, "Well yeah. You don't want me to call you 'that Viking' when I talk about you, do you?"

"I kind of don't want you to talk about me," snapped Thyre.

He felt the conversation flying away from the good zone they'd been in before and threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, yeah, I get it," he said quickly but Thyre still turned her head away and bit her lower lip.

She debated getting up and leaving at that exact moment, but spared one glance to Hiccup's confused face and decided to give their conversation another go.

"Were they really slaves of some giant dragon?" she asked quietly.

The look on Hiccup's face was tired. "No, I ripped off my leg and made it all up."

Ignoring his sarcasm, she continued. "I just… I've thought of them as mindless, vicious beasts for so long. And you're telling me they're intelligent and friendly creatures." She smiled at such a wild idea, shaking her head gently. "And – oh god, this one cracks me up. I can ride them! I never go into town here. I can't see all those people up on their dragons. It's unreal. I don't know how Bear does it. Bear loves it. He adjusted so well and he was a really good fighter, too. What happened to tradition?"

Hiccup cracked a grin toward himself. She sure talked a lot when given something to talk about. But his grin was quickly replaced with a frown as he turned to look her in the eye, to make sure his message was sent across. "The tradition was wrong, Thyre."

She couldn't help but kind of perk up. Was that the first time he used her name? Or was it just the first time he ever said it to her? In the deep of her mind, she understood why she ought to call his dragon Toothless, as was his name. But for now, Thyre looked over and surveyed his face carefully. And suddenly, she cracked a crooked smile, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh Thor. Do we tolerate each other now?"

He squinted. "What's wrong if we're friends?"

Thyre shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing? But I'm not a nice person. I don't want to be a nice person. People don't pick on you if you knock them flat to the ground with an axe."

He nodded his head and said knowingly, "Oooooh, so you're protecting yourself." He cracked a grin and Thyre shook her head.

"Um, no," she tried to defend herself, but was quickly shut down by Hiccup's interjection.

"Um, denial," he snorted. "When I met Toothless, he was really slow to trust me. For good reason. He was protecting himself too. But I showed him I was different and he decided I was okay, and now, he's my best friend."

This time, both Thyre and Hiccup glanced at Toothless. He shut his one eye like he wasn't paying attention again, but they both saw anyway.

Thyre raised an eyebrow. "I thought Astrid was your best friend."

"Astrid is more than that," Hiccup said gently, glancing toward the ground where he had laid the flowers meant for her.

Aah, awkward. Thyre didn't want to talk about his _significant other._ She tried to skirt around the conversation but found that she couldn't think of anything to talk about. She was suddenly too focused on the situation, the right now: She was sitting with her butt on her heels, palms on her knees and spine straight up, facing Hiccup. What the hell kind of body language was that? _Open?_ _Oh no, Thyre, what are you becoming?_ She questioned herself, and looked over Hiccup. He slouched almost beside her, one leg outstretched and the other bent where he could rest his elbow.

Finally she sighed, "I don't know, kid."

"I'm your age!" Hiccup sputtered.

"Whatever kid," she grinned and moved on quickly. "Like I said. Maybe the dragons here in Berk are different than the ones in Ginn. I don't see myself befriending the ones back on my island, definitely not riding them… I don't even see myself being in the same place as one and not getting eaten. You don't understand. They're so much more vicious in Ginn. And I'm not talking about Gronckles or anything like that. We've got them and some others I've seen around here but those are just the pest dragons. I'm talking about the legitimate, mean, killing dragons."

She stopped in the middle of her tangent to find Hiccup's stare on her face, again. But this time it wasn't like the last few times. His green eyes weren't considering her anymore. They were scrutinizing. Before he was just listening – now she could see him figuring her out, in his head. Even when she drew her shoulders back and became more defensive, he didn't stop that curious stare. Finally, she straight up planted her palm in the center of his face. Not expecting it, Hiccup took the blow like a champion and whined, "Oooh, why?" as he was pushed onto his back.

Thyre finally pushed on to her feet, giving her back a decent stretch as he began to walk away. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Toothless giving her a glare as she wiggled and shimmied the cramps out of her muscles.

She meandered back to the place where here butt had made an impression in the grass, holding out her arm for Hiccup to pull himself back up with. Once he was on his feet, she retrieved her helmet off the grass and her hair tie as well, after some hand shuffling to find the string. Once her hair was fashioned to the side and she had replaced the helmet on her head, Thyre turned toward Hiccup.

Somehow, now that she was dressed again and standing with her shoulders back, Thyre didn't feel as accomplished as she should have.

She turned away.

"Well, Astrid should be coming back soon, yeah? I think I'll be on my way then to leave you two love birds at it."

She began to shuffle away as fast as she could, but Hiccup read her mind.

"So, dragon training tomorrow," he called out.

"Don't you 'dragon training' me," Thyre snapped back. But Hiccup had learned that he could fight fire with fire.

"I mean it," he said back. But Thyre didn't hear him. She heard something else - a strange wind in the skies above. Her eyes narrowed and she swung her head toward Toothless, who had awoke and was sitting up staring into the sky.

The noise became louder, and Hiccup worriedly crept closer to Thyre, before backing up and making his way toward Toothless. She barely even noticed, then. Her hazel eyes grew wide.

Suddenly, the whisper in the wind became a high-pitched screech and a flash of black streaks in the night sky. Toothless growled and rose to his feet, tail flickering worriedly. Hiccup ran and hopped on to Toothless' back, who spread his wings instantly. "Stay here, I'm going to go check out what that is," he instructed, fastening himself in to his harness. "I'll be back-" he started again, lifting his head just in time to see the moon's light reflecting off her battle axe as she disappeared into the forest in full sprint.

Ahead came another screech that echoed through the darkness. Hiccup could waste no time now. He didn't need to tell Toothless that, either. Together they took off at top speed, climbing into the air before divebombing overhead of the forest.

Hiccup hoped he would find Thyre before she made it to the screech. Or worse, before the screech made it to her.

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